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Renovations proceeding smoothly

Excellent progress is being made with the refurbishment of 41 bedrooms in the Main Building of St Margaret's College.

The College has been an extremely busy place since examinations ended in mid-November. The cheerful sound of exuberant students at the end of the academic year was replaced with the loud banging of hammers as work began on the final stage of the current refurbishment programme.

The first stage of the refurbishment programme began three years ago during the summer of
2015/16 when the old coal boiler in the basement was decommissioned and
replaced by a medium temperature hot water system. Stage two occurred
during the 2016/17 summer and involved refurbishing 19 rooms on the
first floor of the Ross Wing, followed by 44 bedrooms on RB and RC floors over the 2017/2018 summer period.

In the current summer, it is the turn of 41 rooms on floors B, C and upper RC to be renovated. At the time of writing (four weeks in), these rooms have already been entirely gutted and building of the new rooms is well underway. The building company, Stevenson and Williams, is making excellent progress, no asbestos has been found - thankfully - and painting in some of the rooms is due to start in the next few days. Delivery of the new custom-made furniture for the rooms is scheduled for next week and will be craned up on to a special scaffolding platform before being carried in to the building via the balconies on the Main Building.

As part of the refurbishment programme, a new fire safety system is being installed, together with modern electrical and data cabling. The old sash windows have all been retrofitted with double glazing and all rooms are being well-insulated. LED lighting will also be installed throughout including the corridors which will also receive new wallpaper. New carpet will be laid in each bedroom too.

A few photos of the building progress are included with this article. All the work is on schedule and the rooms will be ready for Members when they arrive in mid-February 2019.